Monday, May 25, 2026
Memorial Day in the USA
Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Blow the trumpet, proud and strong
After Adam had eaten of the tree,
           the LORD God called to him and asked him, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden;
           but I was afraid, because I was naked,
           so I hid myself.”
Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked?
My friend Gonzales says it’s being going on forever. And he’s right. Redemptive violence has us by the … neck, and it has never let go. Cain’s struggle against Abel, replicated a trillion times since we were cast out from the Garden, offers itself up today, on our Memorial Day, as we find ourselves surrounded and caught up in our memories of its victims.
Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.
Of course “victims” means those who died. But what else does it mean? Real people on both sides of every conflict have lost their peaceful places in their own private worlds to patriotic fervor and slapdash slogans like … The only good Indian is a dead Indian, or Kill the bastards! Pick your enemy. We’ve had plenty of them. And the slogans of our enemies are often even worse.
Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit … serve the Lord.
My friend’s son Caden will be playing his trumpet today at the Tuscola Memorial Day remembrance in Illinois. Last year the hired trumpeter didn’t actually play; a small speaker was hidden in the horn and although it sounded OK, it wasn’t quite REAL. Caden will sound very real, and the listeners, I am sure, will feel goosebumps on their arms.
Near the end of Destination Tokyo, (which aired on TCM for the umpteenth time on April 10, 2026) a lone Japanese warship nearly destroys the American submarine. At last Cary Grant says, “I think we’re gettin’ tired of being pushed around.” And to stop that, to protect themselves, his crewmen follow orders to destroy their pursuer, which of course was trying to destroy them. “Fire one! Fire two!” Then “Yippeetiyiyo! Sweetheart, I love ya! There she goes. Down for the deep six.” The tables are turned.
Then in a moment the killing on both sides is replaced with scenes of the Golden Gate bridge and strains of “Oh, say can you see …” Our boys are safe, and those other boys are dead. The sailors have plans, to eat green vegetables and drink Kentucky whiskey, to “go to a platter shop, and get drunk on Dinah Shore records … Maybe wives have a way of knowing when their husbands are coming home. There she is!”
The movie ends with more Star Spangled Banner and another encouraging patriotic words, as the camera pans and follows a submarine heading out to sea. “Good luck, and good hunting!” Catch us up, Lord, and protect us from ourselves.
The “sting” torpedo in Destination Tokyo was covered with graffiti like “Remember Mike! For Mary Lou! So Sorry!” I felt my heart leap with excitement over and over in the critical moments, the killing moments, the moments of victory over an enemy. That energy uncovers and infects me like it does most of us.
Exercise hospitality and bless those who persecute you, do not curse them.
There are places I remember, all my life, though some have changed …
The other night (five years ago) Andi and Aki shared ideas from a talk inspired by Psalm 23. “Thou preparest a table in the presence of mine enemies.” For us, surrounded by American countryside that has not seen much war in decades, those enemies are internal. They asked, “What keeps us from inviting those enemies to the table with Jesus?” After all, they are right here with us, and at that table change takes place, transformation. Before we know it, “our cup runneth over.”
But I get in my own way. Andi writes, “Put yourself in His hands.” Yes. Every day again, forever more.
Six days later, on June 4, Andi watched her mom lie uncomfortably on her couch after dinner. She wrote about this too. Margaret spent the next several weeks in the hospital recovering from unscheduled, unexpected open heart surgery, the same hospital where I’ll be having my own personal open heart surgery next month on June 9. Create in me a clean heart, O God. The echoes reverberate and nearly overwhelm me. And then in the morning light I am rescued by words of Mary in her helpless acceptance, her proclamation to her Auntie Elizabeth …
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, the Almighty has done great things for me, he has mercy on those who fear him.
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Good Conduct Medal (US Army)
National Defense Service Medal (red and yellow stripes)
Vietnam Service Medal (green, yellow and red stripes), 3 stars for 3 battles/campaigns
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal (green and white stripes) – awarded by the South Vietnamese government
Dave Copeland ushers nearly every Sunday at our church. He’s from Illinois, and Margaret was a classmate of his in the 1970’s. He wears his medals with joy and pride. So does Armando Blanco, a retired Air Force lifer, who opens the doors for us nearly every week. When I told Armando about my surgery; his eyes popped. His words tumbled over each other, and his  Hispanic Enthusiasm poured over me like sweet honey. He pointed to another old guy in the lobby. “He had quadruple bypass too! Let’s get together … we can share our stories! Like a fellowship, like a club!”
And Armando’s own chestful of medals sang with an echo that made my cry. We’ve been friends for several years since one Sunday he came down to us and gave us one of his beautiful wooden crosses.He makes them every week. “I saw you holding hands when you prayed,” he said, smiling.
I hung the cross on my bedroom wall, my little wanna-be monk’s hideout.. I was re-arranging things, and when I took in down for a moment the edge of the cross broke off a few months ago while I was re-arranging stuff on my bedroom wall. He wrote his name on the back, Now we are about to become, I hope, members of what Ortberg called “the fellowship of the withered hand.”
God indeed is my savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is the Lord, with joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation.
(Genesis 3, Acts 1, Psalm 87, John 19)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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